Name released in fatal car crash

December 27, 2013

ELKINS - The name of a Valley Head woman killed in a three-vehicle crash Dec. 23 has been released by the Randolph County Sheriff's Office.

Amanda Dawn Channell, 36, was the driver of a northbound 1997 Subaru Legacy station wagon that traveled left of center and collided head-on with a 2012 Mercedes Sprinter Coca-Cola van on State Route 219 in the Elkwater area of Valley Head, Sgt. B.T. Pawelczyk said Thursday.

Channell was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Channell's 5-year-old daughter, a passenger in the station wagon, is listed in stable condition at Ruby Memorial Hospital, Pawelczyk said.

The van driver suffered minor injuries and was treated at Davis Memorial Hospital, police said. A third vehicle, a 2008 Chevy Cobalt, slid into the van after the initial wreck. The driver of that car was not injured, police said.

The Subaru caught fire in the crash, police said, and the drivers of the van and the Cobalt, plus passersby, tried to extinguish the flames and rescue the occupants. They could not save the driver, but they were able to rescue the child.